Doctor Strange 2 wasn’t the film many were expecting it to be, proving several fans on Reddit dreadfully wrong in their theories.
Warning: This list contains SPOILERS For Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness!
The much anticipated Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has finally hit theaters, weaving a tale more akin to a horror movie than to the other entries of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks in part to the guiding hand of director Sam Raimi. Along with the film’s surprising tone came several other unexpected aspects to this film.
The nature of superhero fandom being what it is, fan expectations were high going into Multiverse of Madness, with numerous theories about its events scattering the internet in the months leading up to the film’s premiere. However, as certain Redditors would learn, not all of these theories would prove to be correct.
Redditor liefn had a theory that they genuinely hoped wouldn’t come to pass. “I think there’s a strong chance Wong will die,” they write, going on to explain that they believe his shots in the film’s trailer hinted at an inevitably gruesome death for the beloved Sorcerer Supreme.
As the Redditor seemed to notice in the marketing for Multiverse of Madness, things did look sticky for Wong throughout much of the film. Wong spent quite some time captured by the villainous Scarlet Witch, who actually threw him off a cliff at a certain point in the film, though the Sorcerer Supreme managed to survive the fall, living to fight another day by the time the credits rolled.
One Reddit user, SlippitySlormpity, reasoned that Bruce Campbell’s signature cameo in each of Sam Raimi’s films might have been building up to one major reveal in Multiverse of Madness, writing “I think that Bruce Campbell will be playing a variant of Strange from the Sam Raimi Spider-Man universe,” going on to describe how his cameo could rewrite the very events of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man franchise.
Theories about Campbell’s cameos in the Spider-Man films have been circulating for decades, some of which suggest that he had been Mysterio all along. Multiverse of Madness didn’t bring fans any closer to the truth about Campbell’s cameos, however, with the actor appearing as an unnamed “pizza ball” vendor on Earth-838.
Redditor Planet616 had a sadistically clever theory that suggested that Marvel Studios may have gotten carried away with its misleading trailers. They suggest that “since we know that Marvel is known to fake trailers… I feel like all the trailers we’ve seen so far are fake!”
As fans who have been able to see Multiverse of Madness know, this far-out theory didn’t prove to be correct, though such a marketing campaign would certainly turn heads in Hollywood–but would also fall into some hot legal trouble should it constitute false marketing.
User 8-out-of-10-dentists suggests that the MCU is the only universe in which Wanda Maximoff lives long enough to become the Scarlet Witch, perhaps making it the responsibility of the Illuminati and the Sorcerer Supreme to “make sure that she doesn’t reach the stage where she becomes the Scarlet Witch and endanger the multiverse” through her powers as a Nexus being.
While this Redditor was correct in Wanda being the only Nexus Being present in the events of Multiverse of Madness, their idea about her being the only Scarlet Witch was directly disproven, as Earth-838’s Wanda appears to have her superhero abilities, which come in handy when the MCU’s Wanda hijacks her body to chase after Doctor Strange and Wanda throughout the multiverse.
Redditor Outrageous-Control38 was particularly intrigued by the Ultron sentinels seen in the Illuminati chambers in the film’s marketing, believing that the crazed AI could factor into the plot. They specifically believe that the Ultron Supreme depicted in What If…? could be “a cause of the multiverse falling into madness.”
This Redditor wasn’t alone in their belief that Ultron could factor into the plot of Multiverse of Madness in some way. While Ultron drones were present in the Illuminati scene, no mention of their creator is offered, and, while Ultron Supreme’s interference in the multiverse was profound, it doesn’t seem to have had any effect on the MCU’s prime earth just yet.
User Consistent-Spray5227 thought they had the answer to where the mysterious evil version of Doctor Strange originated from, writing that this variant “was one who fell for Dormammu’s promise in the first movie,” becoming influenced by the powers of the Dark Dimension and its ruler.
This theory, while interesting, ultimately proved incorrect. The dark version of Doctor Strange was rather revealed to be the sole survivor of a multiversal incursion, which had left his universe destroyed. As it would turn out, it had been the Darkhold that kept him alive–and which corrupted him beyond repair.
Redditor ElijahCookOfficial references the iconic Marvel Comics storyline “House of M,” wherein Wanda erases most mutant powers from existence. They reason that Multiverse of Madness could do the opposite of this, where “Wanda uses the full extent of her powers to bring the X-Men into the MCU,” thereby effectively rebooting the X-Men franchise.
This theory was not completely unwarranted, as the MCU has dropped several hints about the “House of M” event occurring within its franchise. However, Wanda’s iconic scene has yet to occur within the franchise, perhaps hinting that such a colossal moment may yet be in the MCU’s future.
Reddit user Ronswansonbacon points to the widely-reported reshoots of the film as an indication of a cut storyline, one which they believed featured Tom Cruise as a variant of Tony Stark who went “insane after his snap [of the Infinity Gauntlet],” thus becoming a more malevolent version of Iron Man.
There were plenty of cameos fans hoped to see in Multiverse of Madness, but ultimately didn’t. Many fans had expected to see Tom Cruise as a Tony Stark variant, given the actor’s history as Marvel’s first choice for the role before landing on Robert Downey Jr. While Cruise didn’t show up in this film, he may still stand a chance of appearing as Marvel continues to delve deeper into the multiverse.
Redditor superadaptoid47 had their own opinions about how the mutants would be introduced into the MCU, specifically through America Chavez, who they believed would be “revealed to be a mutant… the firstborn in a world where there aren’t other mutants being born,” also encouraging Marvel to go “fully cosmic” with the mutants.
Since Multiverse of Madness was widely believed to be the film that would introduce mutants into the MCU, it was common for fans to attempt to guess how it would do so. However, this question is still left unanswered by the time the credits roll, with fans still left wondering how the mutants will first appear. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that America Chavez herself will be revealed as a mutant in the MCU, given the multiversal nature of her powers.
Marvel fan Planet616 was of the opinion that Multiverse of Madness would go much further than initially believed, ending in a “reset of the MCU,” where certain events had been changed to lead to the introduction of a new Avengers team, specifically the Young Avengers.
It was not uncommon for fans to believe in a universal reset of the MCU, especially given the monumental nature of the multiverse’s fracturing. However, this is not the case in Multiverse of Madness, as the main threat of the film proved to be Wanda Maximoff, not the implosion of the multiverse itself. Regardless, a reset of sorts could yet be in the future for the franchise, as there appears to be more multiversal mayhem ahead, as evidenced by the film’s mid-credit scene.
Jordan Iacobucci is an avid reader and movie fan, and has been since childhood. Jordan is known among his friends as the Marvel and Star Wars nerd, and even wrote a thirty-page college dissertation about Spider-Man! He is currently obtaining an English degree and lives outside Raleigh, North Carolina with his family. His other interests include working with children, reading, and music.
10 Reddit Fan Theories Proven Wrong In Multiverse of Madness – Screen Rant
